lips.
“She’s determined, this one,” he said quietly. “She’s going to end up telling us both exactly how to live our lives.”
“And it’s a good thing,” I said, looking at him with an expression that was soft with exhaustion and love. “Her father needs someone to keep him in line.”
He leaned in and kissed me again, and I could feel the smile on his mouth as he did.
“I have you keeping me in line,” he murmured, his lips still brushing against mine in a way that made my breath grow still. “The love of my life, who has moved all the way across the world just to make sure I don’t mess things up again.”
“We’re keeping each other on the right path,” I told him, leaning back and meeting his eyes. “And I wouldn’t change it for the entire world.”
He nodded at this, like I’d just told him something he’d already been expecting, and then tipped his head a bit.
“Speaking of…” he said. “I’ve been thinking that we should, perhaps, finally tell your parents that they have a grandchild. And that their daughter is a princess.”
I only thought about it for a moment before I realized he was right. My parents deserved to know. I had found my path in life. It was time to include them in it.
“And that I have an album coming out,” I added.
Because I wanted them to know I was living the life they’d always wanted for me. I wanted them to know that I’d finally done it. And though I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to totally forget the time we were estranged, I had also come to realize that family isn’t something you put to the side as easily as a pair of shoes that you don’t want anymore.
No, family is something that is precious enough to fix, no matter what they’ve done. And if Javier could get over Francisco having caused so much drama when he was younger, and Francisco could get over Javier having been so controlling over his life, then I could forgive my parents for having had a dream for me and refusing to give up on it.
And they could forgive me, I hoped, for having taken a roundabout way of accomplishing that dream.
Because at the end of the day, this was the way it was always meant to be. Francisco, Orlo, Tarana, and baby Ana… This was what my life had always been heading for. I’d just had to go through one seriously crazy adventure and make the decision to include Francisco in my plans for the future to figure that out.
I didn’t think I’d ever made a better decision in my life. Because it had all led me here.
And as I dialed the number for my parents’ house—the number that hadn’t changed since I was a kid—I smiled up at that man, knowing that my parents would be surprised, but happy, to hear from me. And knowing that they would see what I could see.
That moving across the world to a different country, for a man who I’d barely known before I fell in love with him, had given me the happy ending they’d always wanted for me.
The End
We hope you enjoyed Erika and Francisco’s story! In case you missed it, keep reading for the first chapter of the previous book in this series, The Prince’s Irresistible Offer
Happy reading!
Ana & Layla x
The Prince's Irresistible Offer
Chapter 1
Evie
I lay on Barcelona’s Bogatell Beach and gazed out at the wide, blue expanse of the Balearic Sea, trying to at least sort of take it in. Because the view was freaking gorgeous. Like, unbelievably gorgeous. The sun shining down on me, the deliciously warm wind tickling its way across my skin… all wonderful. All beautiful.
But honestly, I couldn’t care less about any of that. Because there might be calm, blue paradise stretching out in front of me, but the hurricane currently raging through my brain was completely at odds with it.
The waiter standing next to me cleared his throat, and I remembered that I’d called him over so I could submit another drink order.
“Sorry,” I muttered. “Margarita, please, with salt. On the rocks.”
The waiter nodded and left, and I immediately stretched out on my towel, closed my eyes, and did everything I could to will myself to go to sleep. Because lately—and by ‘lately’ I meant for the last year or so—sleep was the only place where I got any peace and quiet.
And peace and quiet was what I was